Cap with opening in front

ABSTRACT

Headwear such as a cap includes a crown defining an opening for receiving the head of a wearer, a brim joined to the crown defining the front thereof, and an aperture on the crown adjacent the brim for allowing an accumulation of hair to extend therethrough. The brim is positioned for providing shade for the wearer&#39;s face and the aperture is positioned adjacent the brim for allowing an accumulation of hair to extend therethrough and be deflected by the brim. A reinforced border region of the crown ensures that the cap will assume a desired position while worn by a wearer. The brim may be fastened to the crown rearward of the aperture in such a way to allow relative movement between the crown and the brim. The cap may also be constructed so that the brim is removably fastened to the crown.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

[0001] This application is a continuation of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 10/116,976, filed Apr. 4, 2002 and entitled “Cap with OpeningIn Front” which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 09/963,476, filed Sep. 13, 2001, which is a continuation ofU.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/964,076, filed Nov. 3, 1997 which isa continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/600,344,filed Feb. 13, 1996, all of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0002] This invention relates generally to headwear such as caps forwearing on a head, and more particularly it concerns a brimmed capprovided with an opening in or near the front for contemporaneouslyproviding shade for a wearer's eyes and face, and allowing anaccumulation of the wearer's bangs to extend through the opening.

[0003] Hats provided with openings for allowing a wearer's hair toextend therethrough are known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,321,854 toKronenberger discloses a head wear piece in the form of a baseball hatwhich has a bill joined to a crown configured to accommodate the head ofa wearer. When in place on a wearer's head, the bill faces forwardly andan opening in the back of the hat is provided for allowing anaccumulation of hair to pass therethrough and extend in a pony-tailfashion.

[0004] While Kronenberger attempts to solve the problem of enabling anindividual with an accumulation of hair to wear a baseball hat, theattempt falls short of providing a truly versatile hat becauseKronenberger is only concerned with allowing a wearer to extend theirhair rearwardly of the hat. That is, a wearer of Kronenberger's hatwould only be able to extend the hair on or near the rear part of theirhead through the opening provided therein. A person with an accumulationof front bangs would find Kronenberger's hat awkward to wear becausethey would have to either tuck their bangs up under the front of the cap(which may be hot and uncomfortable), part their bangs on either side ofthe front of the cap (which would not necessarily keep their bangs outof their eyes), or crush/flatten the bangs down upon the forehead whichwould not only be uncomfortable, but would cause the forehead to sweatand leave a crease across the bangs when the hat was removed.Additionally, a person who desires to ventilate the front portion oftheir head for the purpose of remaining cool would be unable to do sowith Kronenberger's hat. Furthermore, Kronenberger's hat does not shadea wearer's face and eyes and contemporaneously deflect their frontbangs.

[0005] With the above shortcomings in mind, it is a general object ofthe present invention to provide a cap for wearing with an apertureallowing a wearer to extend their front bangs therethrough.

[0006] It is another object to provide a brimmed cap with an aperturefor allowing a wearer to extend their front bangs therethrough, whereinthe aperture is positioned so that the brim shields or protects a wearerfrom the sun, and contemporaneously deflects the wearer's bangs fromaround their face.

[0007] It is another object to provide a sports cap which provides anindividual who is taking part in sporting events with increasedvisibility by shielding their eyes from sunlight and keeping their hairout of their eyes.

[0008] It is yet another object to provide a cap which is comfortableand stylish to wear, and simple and inexpensive to manufacture.

[0009] The invention achieves these and other objects in the form of acap which includes a crown defining an opening for receiving the head ofa wearer, a brim having an edge which is connected to the crown, and anaperture in the crown adjacent the brim for allowing an accumulation ofthe wearer's hair to extend therethrough and be deflected, whilecontemporaneously providing shade for the wearer's face.

[0010] These and additional objects and advantages of the presentinvention will be more readily understood after a consideration of thedrawings and the detailed description of the preferred embodiment.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0011]FIG. 1 is a front elevation of a cap constructed according to oneembodiment of the present invention.

[0012]FIG. 2 is an isometric view of the cap constructed according tothe preferred embodiment of the present invention, shown in place on thehead of a wearer W.

[0013]FIG. 3 is a side elevation of the cap shown in FIGS. 1-2.

[0014]FIG. 4 is a side elevation showing a second embodiment of the capof the present invention.

[0015]FIG. 5 is a side elevation showing a third embodiment of the capof the present invention.

[0016] FIGS. 6-7 are side elevational views like that of the thirdembodiment shown in FIG. 5, except that each figure shows how the visoror brim section of the cap is movable bidirectionally vertically via thenovel attachment location of the head-covering section relative to thevisor.

[0017]FIG. 8 is an enlarged, fragmentary section of the cap shown inFIG. 7.

[0018]FIG. 9 is a side elevation showing a fourth embodiment of the capof the present invention.

[0019]FIG. 10 is a side elevation showing only the head-covering sectionof the fourth embodiment of the cap of the present invention.

[0020]FIG. 11 is a side elevation showing an alternate version of thehead-covering section of the fourth embodiment of the cap of the presentinvention.

[0021]FIG. 12 is a side elevation showing only the visor section of thefourth embodiment of the cap of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION

[0022] Referring now to the drawings, and specifically to FIGS. 1-3, acap or hat is shown generally at 10 being constructed according to thefirst preferred embodiment of the present invention. For reasons to bedescribed below, cap 10 is preferably a baseball-style sports hat and isuseful for wearer W (see FIG. 2) who participates in outdoor sports suchas golf and tennis. It will be understood, however, that while cap 10 isdescribed in the context of sports settings, the cap derives utility inmany other sports and non-sports settings which will also be evidentfrom the description below.

[0023] As shown in FIGS. 1-3, cap 10 includes a head-covering section orcrown 12 defining a generally circular opening 14 for receiving the headof a wearer W. Crown 12 includes a front 16 (FIG. 1) and a back 18 (FIG.3), and is preferably a dome-like structure formed from a plurality ofpanels, such as those representative ones shown at 20 a through 20 d inFIG. 1. The panels are joined or connected together, such as by suitablestitching, in a side-by-side fashion and each panel includes a bottomedge, the collective edges defining, in part, opening 14. Preferably,the panels are generally triangularly-shape so that when they are joinedtogether in side-by-side fashion, the apexes of each triangle convergeto define the top of cap 10 where a suitable button 22 anchors the panelapexes or tips together. It will be appreciated, however, that thepanels may be any suitable shape, and even more generally, they may beeliminated all together in favor of a generally integrally-formeddome-like structure. In the first preferred embodiment, the panels areformed from any suitable fabric material from which baseball-style capsare usually formed, such materials being readily apparent to those ofskill in the art. Additionally, the panels may or may not be formed fromthe same type of fabric material. For example, panels of varying fabrictype would provide a unique and changing-textured surface which might bedesirable for certain wearers. Additionally, panels may be formed fromdifferent types of material such as plastic webbed material or mesh forproviding not only a lightweight construction but increasing the cap'sventilation.

[0024] Preferably, cap 10 includes a conventional visor or brim section24 having an edge 26, a portion of which is joined or connected to crown12 adjacent the crown's front bottom edge, such as by stitching. It willbe appreciated, however, that any suitable manner of joining orconnecting the brim will suffice. As shown in FIG. 3, brim section (orbrim) 24 extends from edge 26, forwardly of crown 12 and defines thefront of the cap. An upstanding lip 26 a extends generally upwardly fromedge 26 and stabilizes the cap, as well as supporting wearer W's frontbangs as will become evident below. It will be understood, however, thatbrim 24 may extend further around the cap than is shown, and may, forexample, extend completely around the cap for contemporaneously shadingthe wearer's eyes, ears, and neck.

[0025] An aperture 28 is provided in the front of crown 12 near, andpreferably adjacent brim 24 for allowing an accumulation of a wearer'shair, and more specifically a wearer's front bangs, to extendtherethrough for a purpose which is described in more detail below. Inthe first preferred embodiment, aperture 28 is elongate, and one of thelong sides thereof extends generally along a substantial length of brim24, the aperture being sized and configured to allow an accumulation ofhair, e.g. the wearer's front bangs, to extend therethrough. Theaperture may be any suitable shape such as circular, triangular,rectangular, star-shaped, or any other desirable shape dimensioned forallowing wearer W's front bangs to extend therethrough. However, in thefirst preferred embodiment the aperture assumes the shape shown, whichmight be characterized as being defined by a generally flat side(corresponding to that portion of the aperture which lies adjacent brim24), and a generally arcuate side connected to the ends of the flatside, and spaced therefrom in a direction away from brim 24.

[0026] In the first preferred embodiment, aperture 28 is formed byportions of panels 20 a-d which have been removed. Such removed portionsmay either be removed after the cap's panels have been joined together,or before the panels are joined together. That is, the panels may befirst joined together, and then have a portion cut away to form theaperture, or portions of panels 20 a-d may be specifically formed withcorresponding portions removed for defining the aperture.

[0027] FIGS. 1 and.2 show an adjustable member 30 in the form of astandard two-part mated strap which includes a portion 32 having pluralapertures therein (FIG. 1), and a portion 34 having a plurality of tangs(FIG. 3) positioned for detachably engaging the apertures for varyingthe size of opening 14 so that wearer's having different-sized heads mayenjoy the cap. Member 30 is visible in FIG. 1 through aperture 28 incrown 12. It will be appreciated that any suitable adjustable memberwhich enables the size of opening 14 to be adjusted will suffice.

[0028] Referring to FIGS. 3-4, hat 10 or 110 show alternate embodimentsof a section of the hat that reinforces the brim adjacent opening 28,128. In FIG. 3, hat 10 includes a reinforcement material 36 such as atensioning element which takes the form of an elastic band sewn into asuitable border 38 adjacent aperture 28. In FIG. 4, hat 110 includes areinforcement material 136 which takes the form of another tensioningelement, a drawstring which can be cinched down in the direction ofarrow A. The drawstring is sewn into a suitable border 138 adjacentaperture 128. A suitable cinching element 140 is fastened to hat 220(undepicted) adjacent brim 224. The idea is to allow the wearer to pulldown on the drawstring until a desired tension is placed along border138. Referring generally to FIGS. 3-4, tensioning of the hat along theaperture border defined by border 38 and 138 has been found to improvethe look of the hat when it is worn. That tensioning tends to ensurethat the hat will assume a look similar to a hat without aperture 28 or128.

[0029] Referring to FIGS. 5-8, a third preferred embodiment of theinvention is shown as hat 210 with crown 212 and brim 224. In thisembodiment, brim 224 is suitably fastened to crown 212 as by stitchinglip 226 a to crown 212 at opposing regions of crown 212 that arerearward of opening 228. Referring to FIG. 7-8, there is a focus on oneof those two regions (a right-side region). In that region, crown 212 isstitched to lip 226 a of brim 224 at dual seams 240. By fastening thecrown to the brim in this way, there is a region 212 a of crown 212 thatis unattached to brim 224. That unattached region allows for a certainamount of movement of the brim relative to the crown as shown by the twopositions of brim 224 depicted in FIGS. 6-7. That movementadvantageously provides for adjustment of the crown and opening whenworn by a wearer as described further below. FIGS. 6 and 7 also showthat a rearward strap section 242 of brim 224 may extend substantiallyrearward of opening 228 (FIG. 6) or only somewhat rearward of opening228 (FIG. 7). At a minimum, strap section 242 must define an area thatis large enough to provide an effective fastening region for brim 224and crown 212.

[0030] FIGS. 9-12 shows cap 310, a fourth preferred embodiment of theinvention. Cap 310 includes crown 312 and brim 324 that removablyattaches to crown 312 by a first fastener section 342 and a secondfastener section 344. First fastener section 342 may be formed as a hookand loop fastener material such as that marketed under the trademarkVELCRO, and second fastener section 344 may be formed as a snap.Corresponding first and second fastener sections of crown 312 are shownat 346, 348, respectively. Crown 312 may be formed with an opening 328and reinforced border 338 (FIGS. 9-10) or without an opening 328′ (FIG.11). One of the functions of having brim 324 being removably fastenableto crown 312 is to allow for interchangeability of hats and crowns. Forexample, a wearer could choose one of several brims (undepicted) ofvarious styles and colors, and match it with one of several crowns(undepicted) of various styles and colors. For professional sportsteams, this interchangeability of brims and crowns would allow teams toselect desired “home” and “away” crowns to be matched with the samebrim.

In Operation

[0031]FIG. 3 shows cap 10 in place on the head of a wearer who isindicated in phantom lines. Cap 10 is placed on the head much like anybaseball-style cap with one important difference. When placing cap 10 onthe head, the wearer should ensure that their front bangs are allowed toextend through aperture 28 so that they are not mashed down by the frontof the cap. In FIG. 3, the wearer's bangs may be seen to extend throughaperture 28 adjacent brim 24. When cap 10 is on the head of a wearer,brim 24 is positioned for not only providing shade for the wearer's faceand eyes, but deflecting an accumulation of hair extending from aperture28. That is, because of the aperture's proximity to brim 24, the brim ispositioned for contemporaneously providing shade for the wearer's faceand eyes, as well as deflecting the wearer's hair from around their faceand eyes.

[0032] This is important for a number of reasons. First, wearer's takingpart in athletics such as golf and tennis usually do so outside where itmay be sunny and bright. It is desirable when taking part in suchactivities, to have one's eyes and face shaded so that, for example, agolf shot or a tennis shot may be made, free from the distracting glareof the sun. Second, it is desirable when taking part in such activities,to do so without one's hair falling into one's face and providing adistraction. The present invention provides a cap which not only shadesa wearer's eyes and face from the sun's distracting glare, but it alsoprevents a wearer's hair from interfering with their view. Furthermore,aperture 28 provides a ventilation port for keeping the front of awearer's head cool when participating in outdoor activities on hot days.In addition, because the front bangs of the wearer are leftsubstantially unencumbered, there is no crease left in the wearer'sbangs when the hat is removed. Furthermore, the cap shades the top ofthe wearer's head from the sun while allowing the front part of the headto remain cool. This is most important when outdoor activities areundertaken during mid-day when the sun is most dangerous.

[0033] With that, it should be apparent that the above-described cap isuseful in any setting where it is desirable to shade one's eyes or facefrom the sun and deflect one's bangs from adjacent one's face. Further,the cap is useful in settings where it is desirable to shade one's eyesor face from the sun and ventilate the front part of one's head toremain cool. Such settings may include recreational settings such asfishing and camping settings, or work settings where individuals arerequired to work outside for long periods of time, such as road or homeconstruction. Needless to say, there are simply many settings andenvironments in which the above-described cap finds utility.

[0034] While the present invention has been shown and described withreference to the foregoing preferred embodiments, it is to be understoodby those of skill in the art that other changes in form and detail maybe made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:
 1. Headwear comprising: a crown defining an opening forreceiving a wearer's head, the crown being constructed to cover thewearer's head by making contact with at least a substantial part of thewearer's head; a brim extending outward of the crown and having an edgewhich is joined to the crown, the brim defining, in part, the front ofthe cap; an aperture formed in the crown near and inward of the edge ofthe brim which is capable of allowing an accumulation of a wearer's hairto extend therethrough; a border formed in the crown adjacent theaperture, and including a reinforcement material effective to allow thecrown to assume a desired shape while worn by a wearer; and wherein whenthe headwear is on the wearer's head, the brim is capable ofcontemporaneously providing shade for the wearer's face and deflectingthe hair extending through the aperture.
 2. The headwear of claim 1,wherein the aperture is elongate and located adjacent the brim so that aportion of the aperture extends generally along the brim.
 3. Theheadwear of claim 2, wherein the aperture extends along a substantiallength of the brim.
 4. The headwear of claim 1, wherein the crownincludes plural panels which are connected together in a side-by-sidefashion, wherein the panels converge at the top of the cap and includebottom edges which substantially define the opening for receiving awearer's head.
 5. The headwear of claim 4, wherein the panels aregenerally triangularly-shaped.
 6. The headwear of claim 1, wherein thecrown includes an adjustable member for varying the size of the openingfor accommodating wearer's with different-sized heads.
 7. Abaseball-style sport hat comprising: a crown having a front and back anda generally circular bottom edge defining an opening for receiving thehead of a wearer, the crown being constructed to cover the wearer's headby making contact with at least a substantial part of the wearer's head;a brim extending outward of the crown and connected to the crownadjacent the front bottom edge extending forwardly thereof; and anaperture formed in the front of the crown and inward of the edge of thebrim for allowing an accumulation of a wearer's hair to extendtherethrough, the aperture being positioned so that the brim providesshade for a wearer's face and is capable of deflecting the accumulationof hair extending through the aperture; and a border formed in the crownadjacent the aperture, and including a reinforcement material effectiveto allow the crown to assume a desired shape while worn by a wearer. 8.The cap of claim 7, wherein the aperture is positioned adjacent thebrim.
 9. The cap of claim 8, wherein the aperture is generally elongate.10. The cap of claim 9, wherein one of the aperture's long sides ispositioned adjacent the brim.